Travel Technology - Tech question regarding AT&T/GSM Service - Phony bars?

I have a technical question that I'm hoping some of you tech savvy people might be able to explain to me.

I've had AT&T Wireless for 6 years now. 6 different phones in those 6 years. The first two were tri-band, the rest were quad-band.

My question is this... there will be times (not all of the time, but a good portion of the time) that I will look down at my handset, and I will have 5 bars. Excellent time to make a call, I think. So I dial, and press send. As soon as I press send, I drop down to 1 bar. And then as soon as I press end, I get 5 bars back.

I called AT&T, and after experiencing "unusually high call volume" (ha! unusual my tookas), the customer service rep admitted this happens to her too, and she doesn't understand why either. So then she connected us to tech support. The tech person told me that when the phone is idle, it gets its signal strength from any available tower... Alltell, T-Mobile, etc. But when I place the call, it only measures from the AT&T...

So, my questions are this...

1 - Is this accurate?
2 - Isn't that misleading advertising more bars, when really, they're not your bars?
3 - Is there any way to get my phone to force itself to choose the higher signal tower, regardless of if it's AT&T or T-Mo?

Thanks! :)

I have a technical question that I'm hoping some of you tech savvy people might be able to explain to me.

I've had AT&T Wireless for 6 years now. 6 different phones in those 6 years. The first two were tri-band, the rest were quad-band.

My question is this... there will be times (not all of the time, but a good portion of the time) that I will look down at my handset, and I will have 5 bars. Excellent time to make a call, I think. So I dial, and press send. As soon as I press send, I drop down to 1 bar. And then as soon as I press end, I get 5 bars back.

I called AT&T, and after experiencing "unusually high call volume" (ha! unusual my tookas), the customer service rep admitted this happens to her too, and she doesn't understand why either. So then she connected us to tech support. The tech person told me that when the phone is idle, it gets its signal strength from any available tower... Alltell, T-Mobile, etc. But when I place the call, it only measures from the AT&T...

So, my questions are this...

1 - Is this accurate?
2 - Isn't that misleading advertising more bars, when really, they're not your bars?
3 - Is there any way to get my phone to force itself to choose the higher signal tower, regardless of if it's AT&T or T-Mo?

Thanks! :)

The phone doesn't check constantly for signal (that'd use up the battery). Typcally, the bars represent the signal level some x sec or min ago. When you make a call, the phone contacts the tower. If conditions have changed you might get fewer bars, or no service. Also, the tower could report that it has no available circuits at which point the phone will attempt to connect to the next best tower (which might have poor signal).

Sometimes and with some phones, there are internal tables (sim or ram) which can become corrupt and cause the phone to not recognize certain towers (or new towers). Usually you can update this by power-cycling the phone.

As to question 3, you can with most phones via the network menu. BUT... you'll either end up paying for roaming, or not get service as the agreements are very specific as to which towers can be utilized "in-network." I wouldn't mess with this.

Regarding question 3 - this is not possible in your "home" country - ie: in the US you can only use AT&T's network with an AT&T SIM card. In other countries you will have a choice of networks you can use, although keep in mind that your mobile provider may only have negotiated lower rates with one or two of the providers, and you could end up with some high charges if you roam to another provider.

Regarding question 3 - this is not possible in your "home" country - ie: in the US you can only use AT&T's network with an AT&T SIM card. In other countries you will have a choice of networks you can use, although keep in mind that your mobile provider may only have negotiated lower rates with one or two of the providers, and you could end up with some high charges if you roam to another provider.

Thats actually not true in the US. Many providers share their network. For example; this weekend I roamed onto several providers when there was no T-mobile coverage, and these roaming providers don't cost me anything extra to use, they are just considered part of the T-mobile coverage area.

1. No, Alltel doesn't use the same technology as T-Mobile and AT&T, so there's no chance that your AT&T phone would connect to any Alltel tower. If you have a SIM card that allows you to roam on both AT&T and T-Mo (see examples in #3 below), the signal strength you see in idle mode could be for either a T-Mo or AT&T tower. Since you have an AT&T SIM, the phone will be blocked from connecting to T-Mo towers (except for emergency calls).
As stated before, the network strength in idle mode is measured fairly seldom.
Also, when you dial a call and move your phone to your ear, the network conditions can change drastically.

2. AT&T doesn't allow you to connect to any other major operators in the U.S., so they are "your" bars. Some phone brands, especially Nokia, are known for always showing five bars no matter how bad your connection is.

3. Unless you use a foreign or a Tracfone SIM, there is no way to use both T-Mo and AT&T. You can roam onto smaller network operators' networks if you have an AT&T SIM, but you can't use T-Mo networks.

Some phone brands, especially Nokia, are known for always showing five bars no matter how bad your connection is.

I'm sorry, but I've owned Nokias since the 2110 back in 1993 to the E61 now and I disagree - completely - with your generalisation.

2. AT&T doesn't allow you to connect to any other major operators in the U.S., so they are "your" bars. Some phone brands, especially Nokia, are known for always showing five bars no matter how bad your connection is.

3. Unless you use a foreign or a Tracfone SIM, there is no way to use both T-Mo and AT&T. You can roam onto smaller network operators' networks if you have an AT&T SIM, but you can't use T-Mo networks.
Not true. ATT & T-Mobile have roaming agreements. But... the agreements are tower-specific - i.e., only in areas where the other provider doesn't have coverage. When you're in an area where there is an issue with the ATT tower, (Busy, perhaps you're at the fringe) and there is a T-Mobile tower nearby AND it's not included in the roaming agreement, you'll see bars reflecting the TMO tower. When you attempt a call, the phone+tower know it's not usable (except for 911) and flip the call to the ATT tower - which may have fewer (or no) bars.

Some phones allow you to change the rules to allow connection via the non-preferred provider. When you connect in this way you'll be prompted to enter a credit card # for the call.

interesting
I found this similar to my blackberry.
I would have it on my counter for hours, see full signal, make a call and I would get "Call failed"
Only though with my new BB

Not true. ATT & T-Mobile have roaming agreements. But... the agreements are tower-specific - i.e., only in areas where the other provider doesn't have coverage. When you're in an area where there is an issue with the ATT tower, (Busy, perhaps you're at the fringe) and there is a T-Mobile tower nearby AND it's not included in the roaming agreement, you'll see bars reflecting the TMO tower. When you attempt a call, the phone+tower know it's not usable (except for 911) and flip the call to the ATT tower - which may have fewer (or no) bars.

Some phones allow you to change the rules to allow connection via the non-preferred provider. When you connect in this way you'll be prompted to enter a credit card # for the call.

True, you could force to connect to a non-preferred. I have done it before, but this is only beneficial when roaming at times when some areas the company has agreements with multiple providers and one has 3G, other doesn't...

Have you ever considered posting your question on AT&T's official customer support forums? See this link (http://forums.cingular.com).

Not that I'm trying to imply that there isn't a single person here who could answer your question, but it seems that many of the people there can actually provide you with better insights into your troubles. :)